More than a month's rain in a day

Vince Chadwick

More than a month's rain in one day has triggered flooding, power blackouts, storm damage and road closures throughout eastern Victoria.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Terry Ryan said the region around Traralgon had received 200 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am this morning. An SES spokesman said in some areas this was more than 1.5 times the monthly average.

Fifteen people in four vehicles, including six secondary students, were stranded at the Blue Pool camping ground north of Briagolong in the state's east, after heavy rain washed away roads.

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A police officer in a four-wheel-drive vehicle managed to reach them and they were escorted to safety around 10.30am.

SP Ausnet reported power blackouts mostly between Traralgon and Mallacoota, affecting Orbost, as well as the towns of Buchan and Bullumwaal.

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SP Ausnet spokesman Jonathon Geddes said at one point 10,000 properties were without power, as repair crews were hampered by road closures and wild conditions. By 5.30pm that number was down to 7000, with a further 4500 properties expected to have power restored in the next few hours and the rest by the end of tomorrow, weather permitting.

The Princes Highway was closed at Orbost, Nowa Nowa and Rosedale, while wind gusts of up to 150km/h brought down trees and blocked parts of the South Gippsland and Monaro highways.

In Traralgon, the SES sent alerts at 2am and 4am today, asking around 90 households to evacuate to avoid flooding. Spokeswoman Dimity York said about 35 registered with the relief centre, while others may have gone to stay with friends and family. Those at the relief centre have now been moved to a hotel.

SES state commander Tim Wiebusch told reporters in Melbourne that the sudden heavy rainfall resulted in very quick stream rises, with 16 properties in Traralgon hit by floodwaters.

Forty-five homes are not accessible, and up to 200 properties in low-lying areas may still come under threat, he said.

SES managers scrambled to the area with two incident response centres working from Moe and Bairnsdale.

Though only a few showers were expected tomorrow, the SES said flooding from rain that had already fallen would continue to pose a threat. Ten flood warnings have been issued across the state, including eight in Gippsland.

Residents were sand bagging properties at Tinamba and Newry after Southern Rural Water released 57,000 megalitres of water from Lake Glenmaggie to create space in the weir. SES spokesman Toby Borella said 20 properties had been cut off by flood water at Tinamba.

The SES had received 1200 requests for assistance across the state since Sunday morning, including 450 calls for trees that had fallen and blocked traffic.

The Mallacoota district also suffered major storm damage in the last 24 hours with a number of roads closed, power lines damaged and downed trees threatening houses.

Parks Victoria warned travellers for the Queens Birthday weekend not to venture into southern parts of the Alpine National Park north of Licola and Dargo due to the risk of landslides, impassable river crossings and fallen trees.

Meanwhile in Bass Strait monster waves were recorded measuring more than eight metres - with some unconfirmed reports of waves significantly higher - as the large and complex low pressure system in the Tasman Sea delivered a second day of wild weather.